“Ambitious Climate Alliance Needed” From EU-CELAC Lawmakers

Today’s formal Declaration at the Brussels Summit of the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) calls for the strengthening of the bi-regional alliance ahead of COP21, but hbs says that isn’t enough.

“There is a fundamental difference between the EU-CELAC Summit Declaration, and last week’s Euro-Latin American Parliamentary (EuroLat) Urgent Resolution on Climate Change,” says hbs Director Linsenmeier. “Heads of State and Government should listen carefully to their parliamentarians and incorporate the more ambitious EuroLat Resolution.”

“Today’s Summit Declaration recognises that the upcoming COP21 will be crucial in achieving an ambitious, transparent and legally-binding global climate agreement. EuroLat’s parliamentarians have shown them the way forward, how to agree joint positions in international climate negotiations, and how to enhance bi-regional dialogue and cooperation on climate change.”

A NEW PARADIGM

Emphasising the comparative strength of the EuroLat Resolution, Ernest Urtasun, a Member of the European Parliament, from the Greens/EFA Group and Co-Rapporteur of the EuroLat text, says: “This Resolution underlines the importance of the search for a new paradigm of human well-being, a paradigm which reconciles the twin challenges of fighting climate change and enhancing equality and social cohesion.”

While EuroLat parliamentarian, Cecilia Castro Márquez, an Ecuadorian Member of the Andean Parliament and Co-Rapporteur of the Urgent Resolution, expressed her satisfaction that the Resolution asks governments from both regions to reconsider the Yasuní-ITT Initiative, which consists of preserving, without exploitation, approximately 856 million barrels of petrol in the ecological reserve of the same name.

WIN-WIN MOMENTUM NEEDED

“For climate action to be effective it must be seen as just, and understood to be fair,” says Silvia Brugger, hbs Climate and Energy Programme Director, she comments that: “Achieving a win-win high-ambition alliance between EU and CELAC countries, one which treats adaptation and mitigation in a balanced manner, is of critical importance.”

Brugger adds that the political context of the EU-CELAC Summit lacks ambition by the Heads of State and Government. She says: “They have found common positions but seem to avoid much that is new. This is a time for boldness, which is why the recent EuroLat Resolution is now magnified in importance. Resolve is needed, a focus on the big picture, rather than narrow national interests.”

REAL CLIMATE ACTION, NOW

“Now, we call for concrete climate action in this bi-regional context,” says Brugger, adding: “New proposals in a Working Paper by the French think-tank IDDRI, together with hbs, address coastal management and climate resilience; cities; transforming energy systems; phasing out fossil fuels; fiscal reform and public services; tracking decarbonisation and resilience. The proposals are ‘Win-Win’ for Europe and CELAC. There must be progress before Paris; and in Paris, there must be action.”